An example of a technique that is of interest for the present disclosure is described in Japanese Patent No. 5156076. A coil component 100 described in Japanese Patent No. 5156076 will be described with reference to FIGS. 6 to 9.
The coil component 100 includes a substantially drum-shaped core 1, and two wires 2 and 3. The wires 2 and 3 are each formed of, for example, a copper wire with an insulating coating. The substantially drum-shaped core 1 has a core part 4, and first and second flanges 5 and 6 each provided in an end portion of the core part 4.
The first flange 5 has an inner end face 7 facing toward the core part 4 and where each end portion of the core part 4 is positioned, an outer end face 9 located opposite to the inner end face 7 and facing outward, a bottom face 11 that connects the inner end face 7 with the outer end face 9 and is oriented toward a mount board when the coil component 100 is mounted onto the mount board, a top face 13 located opposite to the bottom face 11, and first and second side faces 15 and 17 that extend so as to connect the bottom face 11 with the top face 13 and are opposite to each other.
Like the first flange 5, the second flange 6 has an inner end face 8 facing toward the core part 4 and where each end portion of the core part 4 is positioned, an outer end face 10 located opposite to the inner end face 8 and facing outward, a bottom face 12 that connects the inner end face 8 with the outer end face 10 and is oriented toward the mount board when the coil component 100 is mounted onto the mount board, a top face 14 located opposite to the bottom face 12, and first and second side faces 16 and 18 that extend so as to connect the bottom face 12 with the top face 14 and are opposite to each other.
The first flange 5 has depressions 19 and 20 in the form of cutouts, and the second flange 6 has depressions 21 and 22 in the form of cutouts. Although the depression 21 located at a position of the second flange 6 opposite to the depression 22 is not depicted, the depression 21 is designated by reference sign “21” for the convenience of explanation.
As a representative example of the depressions 19 to 22, the depression 22 illustrated in enlarged view in FIG. 9 will be described below. In the second flange 6, the depression 22 is located in an end portion of the second side face 18 near the bottom face 12. The depression 22 is in the form of a cutout defined by a substantially horizontal face 23 extending along the bottom face 12 and a substantially vertical face 24 extending along the side face 18. In the second flange 6, the depression 21 (not illustrated) is located in an end portion of the first side face 16 near the bottom face 12. The depression 21 is in the form of a cutout defined by a substantially horizontal face extending along the bottom face 12 and a substantially vertical face extending along the side face 16.
Likewise, in the first flange 5, the depression 19 is located in an end portion of the first side face 15 near the bottom face 11. The depression 19 is in the form of a cutout defined by a substantially horizontal face extending along the bottom face 11 and a substantially vertical face extending along the side face 15. In the first flange 5, the depression 20 is located in an end portion of the second side face 17 near the bottom face 11. The depression 20 is in the form of a cutout defined by a substantially horizontal face extending along the bottom face 11 and a substantially vertical face extending along the side face 17.
Two terminal electrodes, a first terminal electrode 25 and a third terminal electrode 27, are fixed to the first flange 5 by using an adhesive. Two terminal electrodes, a second terminal electrode 26 and a fourth terminal electrode 28, are fixed to the second flange 6 by using an adhesive. Although the terminal electrode 26 is not illustrated in FIG. 6, reference sign “26” is used to designate the terminal electrode 26 for the convenience of explanation. One end portion of the first wire 2 is connected to the first terminal electrode 25 provided in the first flange 5. The other end portion of the first wire 2 is connected to the second terminal electrode 26 provided in the second flange 6. One end portion of the second wire 3 is connected to the third terminal electrode 27 provided in the first flange 5. The other end portion of the second wire 3 is connected to the fourth terminal electrode 28 provided in the second flange 6.
The terminal electrodes 25 to 28 have substantially identical or symmetric shapes. Among these terminal electrodes, the terminal electrode 28 will be described as a representative example with reference to FIG. 8. The terminal electrode 28 includes a base 29 extending along the outer end face 9 of the flange 5, and a mounting part 31 extending along the bottom face 11 of the flange 5 via a first bending part 30 that covers an edge portion where the outer end face 9 and the bottom face 11 of the flange 5 meet. The terminal electrode 28 further has a wire holding part 33 that extends from the mounting part 31 via a second bending part 32, and a wire welding part 35 that extends from the base 29.
The mounting part 31 and the wire holding part 33 are well depicted also in FIG. 9. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the wire holding part 33 is located within the depression 22. An end portion of the wire 3 is positioned with respect to the wire welding part 35. To maintain this state, the wire holding part 33 is bent as illustrated in FIG. 9. This causes the portion near an end portion of the wire 3 to become embraced and held by the wire holding part 33. Then, the end portion of the wire 3, and the wire welding part 35 are subjected to laser welding to electrically connect the wire 3 with the terminal electrode 28. In FIG. 6, a weld ball 36 formed as a result of the laser welding is illustrated to be located near each of the terminal electrodes 25 and 27.
The above description about the terminal electrode 28 equally applies to the other terminal electrodes 25 to 27.
The coil component 100 illustrated in FIG. 6 further includes a plate core 37 that is passed between the pair of flanges 5 and 6 with its one principal face being in contact with the respective top faces 13 and 14 of the first and second flanges 5 and 6. If the substantially drum-shaped core 1 and the plate core 37 are both made of a magnetic material such as ferrite, the substantially drum-shaped core 1 and the plate core 37 form a closed magnetic circuit.